Just another town?
by Justified
Summary: As two college students on a year out begin to bore of their cross country road trip, Silent Hill looms on the horizon...


The calm mountain road hardly stirred. So out of the way, it was a rare event for a car to pass by this way. After all, being the scenic route it added an extra hour to an already long journey and would maybe have the good fortune of tasting tourist's tyres once or twice a month. One such an occasion occurred on a calm autumn afternoon as a red Zephyr II Convertible cruised gently around the bends, the occupants admiring their amazing view of the forest canopy below, the redwoods towering high above the barely visible forest floor. "You know, I'm glad we took this year out." "Jace...you say that everyday." The driver, Jace. Jason. He was nineteen, and was taking his gap year between college and university. His dad had given him the car as a reward for finishing college; it had been in the family since before Jace's birth. His intense brown hair was always combed in a centre parting, almost long enough to touch his lips. "Yeah, but...I mean, just look at that view. Now you tell me you're not glad we did this." "I'm not about to deny that that isn't a fucking awesome view, but this'll pass in ten minutes." Jace and Chris had been best friends since they were eleven. Chris, though he had always gotten higher grades than Jace, was easily bored and this made Chris the most contradictory person he had ever met; his favourite subject had been physics. His shortly trimmed black hair and intense features often made him look intimidating. "Come on, it's not that bad! What about the town we stayed at last night? It was so amazing, the architecture..." "Yeah; on the one building. It was so small it didn't even have a name, you could drive through it in 10 seconds!" "This is what we came for. Getting away from big cities, just relaxing for a year." "If you call relaxing being bored out of our minds then you've hit the nail on the head." The reliable convertible followed the curves of the road gracefully, the wheels reacting to Jason's every touch of the wheel. The two riders quietened down, and let the warm setting sun wash over them. They bathed in the intense orange light, the cream leather seats on fire. Eventually, the road straightened out as it left the side of the mountain, and began its descent down to the forest floor. The sun lazily also started to finish setting, and by the time the red shape of the car appeared out of the forest it had almost disappeared over the horizon, almost as if it was hiding from the aged vehicle. Jace turned the wheel calmly and began to head along the lone highway. Sporadically placed trees broke up the skyline, blocking what little light there was left, and the side of the road was littered with browning leaves. "It's just..." Chris started "Well. I thought this would be more fun. You know?" "Yeah, it's ok. I know what you mean. I know you've always been a city lover. This was my idea, I'm sorry. I guess this summer hasn't been as good as I thought it would be." "I agree that the area is beautiful. And the small towns we've been staying at have been really fantastic. The people are nice, the little hotels...it's just. I need to meet other people our age. I can't spend all of my time in little towns with a little hotel, a little shop and a little post office. I can't take it." "I know, I'm sorry. I thought that camping on the mountain last night would have broken things up a bit, I guess it didn't. How about, we head towards the next sign we see that points towards at least a fairly large city? We can take a break for a week or two, get our heads sorted." "Yeah, that'd be good. Sorry about this, I just...even when I would go on holiday with my parent's years ago, we'd go to the beach or something. I'd get so bored." "You know, I think we're in luck already." Night had lain thickly over the convertible, its headlights cutting through the darkness. A lone signpost, almost out of nowhere, drifted by the window. It marked a turn off, leading to a denser part of the forest. Jace slowed the car and, in one smooth motion, swung the car round to face the way they had come. He turned into the small road, and pulled up next to the sign. "Silent Hill. What do you think?" "Well, I wasn't looking forwards to sleeping out in the forest tonight, so even if it's another small town, I guess I'll put up with it." "Silent Hill it is then. 5 miles, should be there in about ten minutes." Jace accelerated cautiously. He was curious about the road though. How big could this town be? The road was barely wide enough to fit two cars side by side. They had driven in silence for a few minutes when Chris spoke up. "You hear that?" "What? The engine? The owls?" "No, it's not them..." He reached forwards and turned up the radio. A light static buzz was clearly audible. "Hmm, we didn't have the radio on, did we?" Jace looked away from the road. "No, I don't think so. We probably left it on last night. These trees can't be good for reception; we'll be out of here soon." "Yeah." Chris turned the volume knob until it clicked. The light on the front of the radio died out. He sat back in the chair. After a day of sitting in the car he couldn't wait to go out, meet some people. Even just sit in a bar with Jace. Anything other than sleeping in the car again, or having to sit up until 3 in the morning with a balding middle aged landlord, drinking coffee. The forest began to thin out, the road widened. He could make out the silhouettes of buildings in the distance. His heart lifted. A city... 


End file.
